119 contracts of investors renewed

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 21: The Public Authority for Industry has renewed all 119 contracts of investors who were active in the Future Zone area which was formerly known Free Zone in Shuwaikh and with this all activities are set to return in line with the law after the contracts remained suspended or expired for several years to due to several reasons, particularly due to what the concerned authorities called “legal problems and the transfer of its subordination and supervision from one side to another.” However, now all these problems have been settled under the supervision of the Public Authority for Industry thus paving the way for the future zone to open doors again, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Sources stated that the commercial activities permitted to be practiced in the future zone are all service-oriented and include the hotels, car agencies, restaurants, cafes, supermarkets, administrative offices, banking services, health clubs and retail stores and similar businesses. The sources indicated that the geographical location of the future area makes it the focus of the attention of many investors, especially owners of small and medium enterprises, especially that the return of life to the future area and its operation again, would double its rental revenues than it was in the past, which will positively refl ect on the revenues of the General Authority industry and thus the public treasury. In the same context, informed sources revealed that the Public Authority for Industry also approved the process of “assigning” or selling the usufruct that is currently available to investors in accordance with the legal rules followed in this regard, with the condition that all violations, if any, be removed from the voucher to be assigned to another investor.

Process
It indicated that the process of assignment and sale of usufruct rights had been suspended for many years due to the instability of work in the free zone for many years, which caused investors to incur significant financial losses. The sources pointed out that the Public Authority for Industry gave the investors of the future area a period of 12 months to reconcile their situation with the Ministry of Electricity and Water and the Kuwait Municipality, in order to pay the bills owed by them and remove construction violations.

The sources indicated that the Public Authority for Industry addressed the Ministry of Public Works to maintain roads in the future area, due to the lack of validity of some of them as a result of long neglect on the one hand, as well as their exposure over the past period to the pressure of trucks traveling on them, especially at the entrances and exits. On the unwillingness of the Public Authority for Industry to localize industrial activities in the future area, the sources attributed the reason behind this to several reasons, the most prominent of which are a number of environmental studies which have confirmed that Kuwait Bay is already polluted and the causes of pollution is blamed on the industrial waste and violations. This is in addition to the nature of the design of the future zone which does not allow industries and other similar activities, due to design of the buildings or road spaces, which will cause traffic congestion since it is difficult to broaden the roads.